Monday, September 02, 2013

Two whole fried chickens - one prepared Southern-style with buttermilk and Old Bay; the other done Korean-style, triple fried and served with a spicy glaze. This, my friends, is the Momofuku fried chicken platter - no cutlery required.

There was only one restaurant booking I made ahead of our recent USA trip, and that was for Momofuku fried chicken. When this was first added to the menu at Momofuku Noodle Bar in 2009, everyone wanted in on the chicken. The chicken has to be ordered in advance via their online booking system, and securing a reservation was like winning the lottery.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

I made our reservation for 2pm on a weekday, and when we arrive we find the place is still busy but not full. The frontage to Momofuku Noodle Bar is deliberately inconspicuous. No flashy signage or decor - just the Momofuku logo on the glass entry door.

Stools at the counter

Stool seating runs the length of the room, starting at the bar area and finishing right opposite the pans in the kitchen. Heads are buried deep into ramen bowls but there's nary a slurp to be heard above the din of chatter.

Yuzu Palmer and grape slushies US$10

We'd been warned to arrive promptly. The fried chicken is dispatched from the kitchen no later than fifteen minutes after your booking. Yuzu and grape slushies keep us occupied while we wait - they're deliciously cold and refreshing on a hot day, with fine ice crystals and an alcoholic kick.

It's hard not to squeal with excitement when the chicken finally arrives at the table, an entourage of mu shu pancakes, salad basket and four kinds of sauces that act as bodyguards for the main attraction - a platter piled high with deep fried chicken.

The idea is to wrap chunks of chicken in either the lettuce or mu shu pancakes, add herbs and salad and dip in your choice of sauce. I preferred the lettuce over the mu shu - which seemed a little too dense and heavy as a carrier for fried chicken - and the radish and mint provided welcomed relief when the going started to get tough.

Some of the chicken pieces were dry - especially the Southern-style breast pieces - and the batter wasn't as crunchy as I thought it would be, but a splodge of ginger shallot sauce easily fixed that, and our salad bowl was happily refilled (unasked) when it neared depletion.

The Momofuku fried chicken is recommended to be shared between four to eight people. Wewere a party of five and still couldn't finish it all. A party of six would have knocked it over easily.

Momofuku Bar table seating

With two fried chickens on the menu, we couldn't fit in any of David Chang's famous pork buns so we find ourselves returning that very same day for dinner. By night, the place feels completely different, humming with New Yorkers and overflowing with diners waiting for a table. We have to wait half an hour for a table, tacked onto the end of a table with strangers.

Momofuku pork buns US$9 for two

The pork buns are served in orders of two, also available with shrimp, shiitake or brisket. We stick with the original pork and are rewarded with two hefty slabs of pork belly, so fatty and soft your teeth sink through the flesh like butter. A slick of hoisin sauce adds sweetness, there's pickled cucumber for crunch, and the steamed buns are as soft as a pillow.

There's twice as much pork here as the one in Sydney's Momofuku Seiobo, with the fattylicious pork stacked two storeys high.

Roasted rice cakes US$10

The roasted rice cakes are right up my starch-loving alley, little chunks of dduk Korean rice cake that taste like they've been deep-fried until slightly crispy and then coated in a gochujang chilli sauce and littered with sesame seeds and shallots. There's a slight resistance as you crunch through the thin outer shell before you hit the chewy rice cake middle. So good they're spine-tingling.

Momofuku ramen US$16

The longest wait is for the Momofuku ramen. The stock is hearty, the noodles are chewy, but the highlight is the pork - a slab of tender pork belly and a hunk of pork shoulder that falls apart into soft shreds.

A couple of days later we're pounding the pavement in search of dinner when we look up and realise we're standing right outside Momofuku Ssam Bar. It only takes a sideways glance at each other before we laugh and hustle ourselves inside.

It feels more like a bar in here, with dim lighting, casually dressed waitstaff and a row of diners seated along a counter. Momofuku Ssam Bar is presently listed at number 86 in the 2013 World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

East Beach blonde oysters with ramp mignonette US$3 each

The East Beach blonde oysters feature on the raw section of the menu - not as briny as Sydney Rocks - served on a bed of ice with a ramp mignonette.

Grilled asparagus, chawanmushi, pickled tomato and sesame US$13

Grilled asparagus is grilled until just tender, served with strips of chawanmushi that are more like a soft omelette than the wobbly egg custard we're expecting.

We all order another round of Momofuku pork buns, unable to resist its fatty seductiveness.

Momofuku BBQ pork belly bun US$6

Suze also tries the barbecue pork belly bun, grilled so there's a caramelised char on the surface. It's still tender and soft, but much sweeter in flavour, sandwiched with a sweet coleslaw. The consensus is we prefer the simplicity of the steamed pork bun that celebrates pork fat and bun.

There are five Momofuku Milk Bars scattered around New York each serving a different soft serve variation. All of them serve the classic cereal milk soft serve.

Momofuku Milk Bar menu

It's hard not to be overwhelmed by the choices on the menu, each imploring you to jack up your sugar with carefree abandon.

Momofuku cereal milk soft serve US$4.50 with crunch topping US$0.75

The Momofuku cereal milk soft serve is mandatory, snaking curls of soft serve that are piped perilously high in the paper cup. The soft serve is made from milk infused with the flavour from cornflakes, and it really is quite a bizarre sensation to be eating ice cream that tastes just like a childhood breakfast cereal. It's malt and corn and sugar and milk in a frozen mind-altering experience.

The crunch topping is amazing too, sweet and crumbly like a cornflake praline.

Momofuku crack pie US$5.25

There are compost cookies for takeaway, but we attack the Momofuku crack pie in the shop. I'd eaten a homemade version of this before so had an idea of what to expect, but its intense sweetness will still make you raise your eyebrows in shock. Essentially it's an orgy of sugar, butter, egg yolks and cream. The buttery short pastry is impressive but the slightly sticky crust across the top is the best part!

That chicken looks finger lickin' good! Loved Momofuku noodle bar and the Milk Bar...aaah brings back some happy memories :) Someone just told me the Milk Bar cookie mix is available at the West Elm store and website so you can make your own composte cookie!!

I only managed to check out the Noodle Bar when I was in NYC in June. Where I had the oh so tender pork buns and the Ramen noodles. Next time I will definitely want to have the fried chicken. Ssam Bar will also be on my list plus if possible Ma Peche. Good post!

For some reason the pork buns here look better than the ones at Seiobo. And that fried chicken looks amazing! My dream is to go to the Momofukus in NY one day. I will just have to make do with Seiobo for the time being.

Thanks for such an extensive review! Great photos too. The fried chicken looks brilliant. I'm keen to try the Momofuku Bo Ssäm - which has a hwole pork shoulder with oysters and other condiments - super decadent.

I'm sooo incredibly jealous of your momofuku adventure, from the noodle bar to the milk bar, everything just looks freaking perfect! The soft serve is high on top of my to try list! Fantastic roundup review :)

The dish of fried chicken actually looks deceptively small.....I was thinking that $125USD was pretty steep for such a small plate of fried chicken until I realised that it could feed 6!! It looks amazingly tasty though- love the sound of triple fried chicken!